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MENZ ISSUES

MENZ Issues: news and discussion about New Zealand men, fathers, family law, divorce, courts, protests, gender politics, and male health.

Tue 2nd September 2008

Public Meeting – Focus on Separated Families Comparing Parties Policies

Filed under: Events,General — MurrayBacon @ 10:02 pm

Invitation to Public Meeting – Comparing the Political Parties Policies:

Organised by Men’s Centre Auckland phone for these meetings: 638 7275 cell 021 537 196

Tuesday 9th September – Focus on Supporting Separated Families

These will be held at Mount Eden Normal School Hall, corner of Valley and Sherbourne Roads, Mount Eden, starting at 7.30 pm and ending at 9.30 pm. Attendees will be requested to make a gold coin donation.

Focus on Supporting Separated Families Tuesday 9th September

1. How will your party better support separated families?

2. How will your party assist separated families to compete in the job market, to support their children and to give them the best retirement options?

3. What improvements does your party propose to Education, Health, Courts, Benefits/Taxes, to support separated families?

All welcome. (more…)

Evidence is easily swept away by Sympathy

This should never happen, in a court that takes justice seriously.

This is so fundamental to successfully delivering justice, that the judicial oath was written to cover this issue. (see Oaths and Declarations Act www.legislation.co.nz)

In the [human]-animal, decisions leading to action, are made in the emotional part of the brain. This enables a fast response to threats, as at times it is needed for survival.

A rational decision takes longer to complete, than an emotional decision. A rational decision can only be made, if the animal has inhibited the emotionally based reaction, long enough to complete the rational analysis.

Many people are not prepared to put in the time and effort, to complete a rational analysis, when the emotive decision can be made easily and relatively effortlessly.

Open courts (or note taking reporters, or recordings) allow the public to know what is going on in a court and to review the judge’s decision. This allows the public to apply a typically wise and well informed corrective force onto any errant judge.

Justice can’t be done in secret and here’s why Times

Discussion about media access to familycaught

judge baragwannath refuses to allow a parking ticket appeal hearing to be filmed for public access

Secret caughts remove these safety mechanisms, so that “judges” may easily drift out of adjustment. The collegial structure of the judiciary doesn’t give the Principal judge of each court any useful remedial power over faulty “judges”. (more…)

Sun 31st August 2008

Fathers Day Piknik at Parliament

Filed under: General — Ministry of Men's Affairs @ 1:29 pm

Republic of New Zealand Party candidates are inviting fathers, their families and friends to the Fathers Piknik at Parliament on Saturday 6th September from 1pm,” says party leader, Kerry Bevin

The Piknik is to celebrate the importance of fathers in children’s lives, despite the fact that it hasn’t been such a picnic for them under the Clark Coalition.

“Fathers work hard to support and encourage their kids but the misandrist policies of Clark have delivered much parental alienation. Such aberrant family policy must be voted out at the next election by voting wise and voting Republican.”

Mr Bevin claimed that women are still allowed to make false allegations against fathers, move children out of their schools and communities, seek unsubstantiated protection orders and prompt financial persecution by the IRD. The monetary incentive to separate along with the prevalent feminist bias in family law was devastating families and maintaining societal dysfunction, he added

Few male teachers meant father roles were absent in schools too.

“We are now seeing the social consequences of this double whammy delivered by Helen and the Funny Girls.”

“Despite the hits that fathers have taken from the Clark Government we can still have some fun with a concert and a lolly scramble. See you at the Fathers Piknik on Saturday the 6th of September.”

Republic of New Zealand Party policy is to make equal parenting law, to protect children’s rights to have a mother and a father. Mediation will be binding in law, false allegations will be punished and protection orders will have to be substantiated. Child support will become fair. Men’s refuges will be funded. A Ministry of Men’s Affairs will prepare policy and law to secure equal rights for fathers.

Fri 29th August 2008

Am I doing the right thing?

Filed under: Child Support — Tigerseye @ 12:38 pm

I’d like some advice on my situation… it’s a tough one, but then none of the shit NCP’s put up with is easy.

 

I’m paying my child support and fair or unfair it has to be paid.  My ex seems to put up all these brick walls and even though I am entitled to see my Daughter once a fortnight for 8 hours on a saterday she (my daughter) has opted to go home after just 3 hours because the ex decides to tell her about the exciting things they will be doing that day.  Needles to say that my financial situation doesn’t allow me to do all those things…

I know most of you will be saying take it to the FC but who am I kidding?  I don’t have the money to do that and no way of getting legal aid – same ol’ story and besides, what am I going to say to the judge when all they want to know is what is in the best interest of the child (read: what she wants not what she needs) and I’ll be back to square one.

 

So, instead of beating my head against one of many brick walls each fortnight I figured I would cut out the middle man (the FC) and tell my daughter that I’m here for her when she wants to see me.  My hopes are that when she gets a little older (she’s now 8 ) she’ll see what the ex has been doing and want to be with me more.

I love my daughter so much but it doesn’t seem like there is any other choice but to forget about visitation and let her decide what she wants to do.

 

Your opinions, suggestions and advice would be much appreciated.

Tue 26th August 2008

At last!

Filed under: Law & Courts — Eric @ 1:27 pm

After 3 attempts and 6 years, I have finally managed to get my protection order discharged. No lawyer was used as I have yet to come across a good one. I tried several. Interestingly the judge stayed well clear of my legal arguments in his judgment.

Among other things I argued the NZ Bill of Rights. I also argued that the Crimes Act, the Trespass Act, and the Harassment Act provided plenty of legal protection for the respondent. I wish us men got better organised so that we could get a case up to Supreme Court level and have these arguments of mine set as a binding precedent for all the lower courts.

Thu 21st August 2008

Time to Hit the Streets

Filed under: General — blamemenforall @ 2:36 pm

This proposed legislation change shows the extent to which the Ministry of Justice, as is the case with most other ministries, is now dominated by the agenda of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs.  They want a man to be ruled guilty of a rape allegation unless he can prove he sought and obtained consent.  They also want to disallow any questioning of complainants about their sexual history with the alleged “attacker”.  Further, they want to define consent legally but we don’t know what they mean by that; rest assured, it will be a definition that makes it very difficult to prove consent was obtained.

The changes will see the principles of injustice in the DVA seeping into general criminal law; i.e. when a man is accused he needs to prove his innocence rather than the crown needing to prove his guilt.  They will also see another major erosion of well-established protections against false conviction by further limiting the ability of defence counsel to test the allegations.  Such erosion has been steadily occurring over the last few decades, specifically for sexual allegations for which men usually stand as the accused.

This proposal comes on top of amendments a while back that enables consent that was given to be seen as not having been given (See “Warning to all men” posted on MENZ 20/09/07).

As Bill Hodge said, the fact that a particular crime is difficult to prove beyond reasonable doubt does not justify reducing the standard of proof required.  That will convict a few more truly guilty parties but it will also increase the rate of wrongful convictions.  Arson is also difficult to prove (because the evidence has usually been destroyed), but does that mean that we should make it easier to convict anyone the police decide to charge with arson? Of course not; that would be highly unfair.  But apparently fairness doesn’t matter when it comes to men. 

Quite possibly, a hidden agenda here is a wish to give mothers an easy way of maintaining primary care of children in an environment where shared care is becoming fashionable (because it is so strongly supported by good outcome research).  If the mother can obtain an easy rape conviction, this will rule out all but supervised contact for the father. 

It will be very difficult for a man to prove he sought and obtained consent.  Even if he has a signed consent form, the woman can argue that her signature was obtained under duress.  Legally, such consent can only be defended if both parties have been given independent legal advice about what they are signing and agreeing to.

The proposal shows how much Annette King and her ilk hate men and want to turn men into slaves and lower caste citizens.  It is  outrageous yet there is every chance it will be brought in.  Will this be enough to shock men out of their complacency and on to the streets?

Mon 18th August 2008

Child Support obligation to work does not breach Antipeonage Act in USA

Filed under: Child Support,General,Law & Courts — MurrayBacon @ 10:35 pm

I hope the following USA article clarifies this issue for NZ non-custodial parents (fathers). I apologise for using the old Guardianship Act terms, but they do communicate the legal relationships in a straightforward and honest manner, that helps real people to understand the caughtroom behaviour of these not qualified “judges”.

US OCSE Enforcement of Child Support Obligations

“The California Supreme Court reasoned that the obligation of a parent to support a child, and to become employed if that is necessary to meet the obligation, is in no way comparable or akin to peonage or slavery.”

(more…)

Public Meeting – Focus on Together Families Comparing Parties Policies

Filed under: Events,General — MurrayBacon @ 5:46 pm

Invitation to Public Meetings – Comparing the Political Parties Policies:

Organised by Men’s Centre Auckland phone for these meetings: 638 7275 cell 021 537 196

Tuesday 19th August – Focus on Supporting Together Families
Tuesday 9th September – Focus on Supporting Separated Families

These will be held at Mount Eden Normal School Hall, corner of Valley and Sherbourne Roads, Mount Eden, starting at 7.30 pm and ending at 9.30 pm. Attendees will be requested to make a gold coin donation.

Focus on Supporting Together Families Tuesday 19th August

1. How will your party better support together families?

2. How will your party improve New Zealand’s international competitiveness and make the NZ labour market stronger and more secure?

3. What improvements does your party propose to Police, Courts, Probation and Prisons, to protect citizens?

4. What improvements does your party propose to Education and Health?

(more…)

Thu 14th August 2008

Herceptin Debate Exposes Political Parties

Filed under: General — Ministry of Men's Affairs @ 12:31 pm

Following High Court proceedings against it Pharmac has maintained its commitment to rational, science-based decisions by honestly re-evaluating the research into Herceptin rather than caving in to feminist political pressure. No good research currently supports a contention that a 12-month course for women is clinically superior to a shorter course, so Pharmac very sensibly has decided to withhold expenditure on Herceptin of $20 to $30 million that can be used for other treatments supported by adequate proof.

The reaction of the political parties to Pharmac’s unchanged position provides important information about how corrupt they are prepared to become in order to attract the women’s vote. (more…)

Duplicitous Dunne’s Smoke and Mirrors

Filed under: General,Men's Health — blamemenforall @ 11:01 am

The United Future (UF) policy is in some ways positive. Legal recognition of the concept of a “presumption of shared parenting” after separation is a step forward. Acknowledgement is welcome of the growing research showing that fatherlessness is perpetuated through current family law but is very bad for children. Those who have slaved away for years in he men’s and fathers’ movement need to pat themselves on the back because some of their efforts have trickled in to wider awareness.

However, published details so far show UF is hardly moving in the direction that fathers know will be better for children and for society. (more…)

Wed 13th August 2008

Low male respondent rate on step parent survey

Filed under: General — JohnPotter @ 3:52 pm

Message from Claire Cartwright – Director Clinical Psychology Programme, Dept of Psychology, University of Auckland.

Families in Transition – Couples in Repartnered (Step) Families

I still have my online survey for stepfamily adults open. I am closing it at the end of August.

This is a last request to see if there are more men in your networks who would be interested in doing it. Only a third of my participants have been men. And it would be great to have some more fathers and stepfathers do it.

Any adult who is repartnered and has children from a previous relationship (theirs or partners) in the home for part of the week can do the survey online. It does take at least 20 minutes however. And some people take longer.

When someone is ready to do it (has the time), then they can click on the link below and they will find themselves in a secure university site.

Couples in Repartnered (Step) Families survey

If anyone has any queries, they are welcome to email me at: [email protected]

Tue 12th August 2008

UnitedFuture pushing to reform family law

Filed under: General — UF @ 4:21 pm

UnitedFuture has announced plans to reform New Zealand family law, in a three-pronged approach designed to keep both parents closely involved in the day-to-day lives of their children following family breakdown.

“UnitedFuture will introduce ‘shared parenting’ as a default position for child custody arrangements in the family court,” announced family spokesperson Judy Turner.

“Shared parenting is currently granted in only one in nine judgements by the Family Court, with sole custody given to only one parent in eight out of ten cases, which is an extremely unsatisfactory situation. (more…)

Wed 6th August 2008

Fathers – Please Help Us

Filed under: General — harald @ 12:30 pm

Sovereign Sunshine, which is a charity arm of the Insurance/Finance company Sovereign, selects six charities each months and puts them to a vote. This month, Father & Child Trust is one of them. The winner takes $10,000-$15,000, which would be a huge boost for us.

Since it’s not all that well known, there’s not too many voters and individual votes actually make a big difference. Here’s the link: www.sovereignsunshine.co.nz

If you’re not familiar with Father & Child Trust, look at www.fatherandchild.net.nz .

We don’t make a lot of noise, but we’ve been helping dads for around for 11 years now. Lately we’ve been producing a magazine for new dads, which they get at the hospital when the baby is born. You can watch a video clip of an interview on TV1 Breakfast show, or here for a ‘Press’ story about the mag.

Thanks lots – Harald

State Rape

Filed under: General — triassic @ 5:44 am

I want to further address Sunday’s article A man’s core desire for adventure and some of the following comments. Darren gives us a look at what he is doing for men and their children in Australia. He also invites us and our contacts to join him. In the following comments, Martin is cynical and therefore critical of the article and suggests that it is another attempt from someone to get a living out of our misery. That got me thinking. He expressed my own feelings from a few years ago and I became introspective as to how my thinking has changed and if I am letting myself and the team down by seeing the best in people’s motives. It took me back to my rage at the way I was treated by the system and I was able to juxtapose that with a female who was brutally raped by a man. (more…)

Tue 5th August 2008

United Future’s first step to arresting dads at the border

Filed under: General — Scrap_The_CSA @ 10:23 pm

Peter Dunne, United Future Leader, is setting up the groundwork for his National friends.

Information matching on child support debt to begin

NZPA
Tuesday August 5 2008 – 02:49pm

Information matching between Inland Revenue and the Customs Service for the
purpose of recovering outstanding child support debt will begin at the end of this week,
Revenue Minister Peter Dunne said today

Regards
Scrap

Mon 4th August 2008

One In Five Fathers Wrongly Identified By Mothers

Filed under: Child Support,General,Law & Courts — UF @ 5:19 pm

Press Release by United Future at 3:52 pm, 04 Aug 2008

UnitedFuture is calling on the Government to immediately introduce DNA paternity testing, following new figures from Britain showing that in one in five claims DNA testing proves that the mother misidentified the father of their child.

“It is a disgrace that in New Zealand men have no right at all to get a simple DNA test to confirm whether they are the father or not,” says Mrs Turner.

“Presently, if the mother says no to a DNA test, then the man and child are left in the dark as to whether they are in fact related.” (more…)

Sun 3rd August 2008

A Man’s Core Desire for Adventure

Filed under: Boys / Youth / Education,Events,General — fatheringadventures @ 8:55 pm

So here I am… an Australian man posting on MENZ.org.nz… brave or what? Especially after the Wallabies received an absolute grubbing at the hands of the All Blacks yesterday. John Potter had explained that MENZ.org.nz was specifically designed and created for New Zealand men, but after I played the “ANZAC” card, he was most gracious, and has allowed me to author and post a few articles here. So here it goes…

ADVENTURE!

Whatever your nationality, there is something at the core of ALL men… and that’s our desire for adventure. Oh sure, most of our lives on the surface, look anything but adventurous, but it is there… however deep we may have buried it over time. Just watch boys play. My youngest son, Theo, has just turned 5. About a month ago, he came to me and asked if I could remove his training wheels from his bike. I didn’t think he was ready, because he hadn’t been riding long, but I resisted those doubts, and off they came… and more importantly, off he went… and he never looked back. (more…)

Save the Males

Filed under: General — Ministry of Men's Affairs @ 12:48 pm

Gradually, the worm turns. See http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/766592?UserKey=0

Thu 31st July 2008

Gary McKormick on Child Support and Men’s Issues

Filed under: General — Scrap_The_CSA @ 10:55 pm

National Radio the Panel today

Gary makes some intersting points in relation to Child Support and speaks of men he knows who could not afford to pay child support who have left the country.

Regards

Scrap

Ditch jumping kiwis

Filed under: Child Support — Tigerseye @ 2:36 pm

Interesting…

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4637481a11.html

Tue 29th July 2008

Non-resident Father’s Perspectives on Paying

Filed under: General — Scrap_The_CSA @ 9:54 pm

“It’s not just about the money”: non-resident father’s perspectives on paying [109 KB PDF]

Key words: child support, fatherhood, non-residential fathers, meaning of money

Abstract

We examine fathers perceptions of paying child support using in-depth interviews with 26 separated or divorced non-residential fathers in Australia.While the majority of fathers agree that continued financial support of their children is important, child support is a difficult component of their lives. Difficulties arise not only because of the financial costs, but changes in the father-provider role after separation. The payment of child support is viewed as a continuation of the provider role, but fathers have little or no control over how much money is contributed and how that money is spent. Consequently, most fathers question the amounts they have been assessed to pay and how the money is being spent on their children. These responses suggest that policy reforms aimed at changing non-residential fathers child support behaviours need to be sensitive to non-material aspects of the payments not just capacity to pay.

On the surface this looks great but consider the underlying ideology of the researchers as seen in the language and methodology. (more…)

Mon 28th July 2008

NZ Republicans Burn Protection Orders

Filed under: General — blamemenforall @ 5:07 pm

Strong storm warnings of a strong storm scared off fair weather friends, but the protection-order burning ceremony was still a splendid affair in Hamilton on Saturday.  (Copies of) protection orders were burnt, words of great wisdom spoken and those Hamilton shoppers who braved the weather were shaken out of their complacency to be thoroughly edified and entertained.  The injustice, male enslavement and child abuse perpetrated by our Family Court and feminist laws are starting to be recognized by the man and woman in the street.

 

As a bonus, Queen Liz II graced us with her presence and was told, in the most obsequiously groveling way, that she was no longer needed as our head of state.  The flag of the queen’s governor-general was burned in a spirit of deep subordination.  Her royal majesty attempted to have our bowed heads severed from their bodies but she was uncrowned and defrocked before the order could be effected, revealing a stunning, sleek evening dress no doubt intended for the evening’s state banquet.  (Winston Peters had to be invited to the banquet because the Left Dishonourable Ms Clark couldn’t find any kindergartens needing formal opening in Eastern Europe to keep Winston from offending important foreign dignitaries.  Winston hoped to ask Queen Liz for $100,000 which his lawyer would then conveniently forget to tell him about.) 

 

The event was so much fun that the Republic of New Zealand Party will do it all again in Auckland and Tauranga soon.  Details will follow, so polish up those (copies of) protection orders and keep those match-lighting fingers fit and ready. 

A letter to Hon. Ruth Dyson

Filed under: Child Support — Tigerseye @ 12:56 pm

I’m the producer of a documentary currently being made about the Child Support Act (CSA). Hand in hand with that are the troubles with the Family Court (FC), which have driven a lot of families apart.

The documentary is called “The CSA Files” and you can visit www.the-csa-files.webs.com for more information. This email serves as a formal written interview and your response or lack there of will be incorporated into the documentary

Information and statistics are in no short supply thanks to the power of the Internet. Even those that are computer illiterate have no problems finding this information. The people are learning and it’s time for the government to answer some questions… (more…)

Fri 25th July 2008

Fatherless Children

Filed under: Child Support — Tigerseye @ 10:33 am

When the government sees fit to surgically remove the father from the family culture do they realize they are in fact turning a nuclear family into a nuclear weapon? A study done in Massey University in 1996 found the following horrific facts:

Fatherless Kids are:

5 times more likely to commit suicide

32 times more likely to run away

20 times more likely to have behavioral disorders

14 times more likely to commit rape

9 times more likely to drop out of high school

10 more likely to abuse chemical substances

9 times more likely to end up in a state-operated institution

20 times more likely to end up in prison

There is much more data out there to support this conclusion which is now more than just a theory. These are just the main bullet points. Not only do we suffer as Fathers with little to no access to our sons and daughters, which in itself is a heart breaker but the kids face even greater difficulties.

Remember, legislation encourages Mothers to do it alone… but look what happens when they do. This does not mean men are better then women or fathers are better then mothers, it means they are more powerful and effective when working together. Something that seems to be overlooked when the FCworks “in the best interest of the children.”

Wed 23rd July 2008

Parenting Pack for New Fathers

Filed under: General — JohnPotter @ 11:46 am

As reported in a Press article on Monday: New daddies get a helping hand, a special edition of the Father & Child magazine will be given to new fathers in Christchurch, Wellington and Dunedin [and Auckland – JohnP] hospitals as part of a birth pack for parents.

Christchurch father Donald Pettit told the Press:

“This magazine would make dads feel included. It’s important to feel this is an important time for fathers, as so much of the focus seems to be the other members of the family.”

This morning on the TV1 Breakfast show, Father and Child Trust co-ordinator Harald Breiding-Buss did a great job of promoting the magazine, and getting out a positive message about fathering. (more…)

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